Posted on 10/06/2010 8:06:09 PM PDT by dennisw
State authorities in Miami on Wednesday announced the arrest of nearly two dozen convenience store and gas station owners, who allegedly ran an organized ring of tax evasion.
The 23 people arrested included alleged ringleaders Mohammed Dinaj Khan and Manzural Islam, and their bookkeeper, Jenny Cosme.
Other individuals named in the arrest affidavit are Pervin Begam, Jharna Khan (aka Nilufar Akther), Farzana Karim, Bhuiyan R. Lutfar, Abdulla Hassan, Mohammad A. Samad, Banu Khanam, Rana M. Khan, Sudhir Chandra Nath, Jalal Ahmed, Lutfa Begum, Johni Puthusseril, Siraj Miah, Mohamed Nazmul Alam, Syeda L. Alam, MD Hamidur Rahman, Matiur R. Khan, Mohammad Sohid, Dipock Dave Nath and Abdul Mageed Ansari.
The business owners allegedly reported low sales revenue on federal and state tax returns, while also reporting an unusually high percentage of sales from items that were supposedly exempt from Florida sales tax, according to the office of Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
According to an arrest affidavit from Rundle’s office, the defendants in the case used Deerfield Beach-based American Investment, a company run by Dinaj Khan, to collect and filter the business data from businesses throughout the state. American Investment sometimes did business as Team Management, the affidavit said.
Rundle’s office called the bust “a massive roundup spanning multiple counties throughout Florida.”
The affidavit said the scheme spanned 20 years – from 1990 to 2010 – during which time Khan and Manzural and other conspirators used fictitious names – including “Fatima Nahid” – to register more than 118 corporate entities.
According to the affidavit, records showed that one of the store locations, Aziz Petroleum, prepared sales records based on only one cash register. Even though the store was charging customers sales tax on the second register, it was not reported or remitted to the state.
The affidavit said Cosme performed accounting work for the companies under various company names, including Exquisite Accounting and Business Services of Delray Beach.
Attempts to reach someone at American Investment or at Exquisite Accounting were not successful. No phone number could be located for American Investment, while an answering machine at Exquisite Accounting said the voice mailbox was full. An employee who answered the phone at Aziz Petroleum said he was only an employee and knew nothing about the arrests.
The 23 defendants were charged with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, tax evasion, theft of state funds, false and fraudulent return, aggravated white-collar crime, making a false representation to avoid or reduce contribution, and willful and fraudulent acts regarding corporate tax.
What a bunch of fugly mugshots at your link! I’m gonna clue you in. These particular Muhammads are from Bangladesh and Paki
” lots of muslim sounding names in that article. hm. “
Sounds like time for a little Sharia law.
Do we get to pick what to chop off?
Hezbollah notoriously bankrolled a lot of gas station and convenience store franchisees in the US.
Obviously a bunch of Ultra-Conservative, anti-government authority, birther, gun-and-Bible-clinging, witch-worshipping Communophobic pro-Forced Pregnancy Hate Speech types. Best to split them up between Gitmo and Abu Graib. Can’t have ‘em talking to each other or listening to Hannitylimbaughbeckleviningrahampalin.
Oh, the Mooselimbs? Make ‘em guards.
This is encouraging. Perhaps other states may investigate raghead businesses also.
Not to mention it is a family business where they take no salary and pay little if any SS tax.
The muslims are notorious for pocketing bed taxes in the hotel business.
The muslims are notorious for pocketing bed taxes in the hotel business.
That would be great! However with this administration zero's got so many fellow mooselimbs on the team it will all be swept under the rug...
I would bet that they aren’t Americans, that they are probably illegals, and Obama will go out of his way to give them a pathway to citizenship.
It never ceases to amaze me how many foreign criminals are operating in this country and nobody gives a damn about how they exploit our hospitality.
I do worry that the crooks in Sacramento are not getting all the loot they need to buy union votes. That would be a shame.
I don’t know. These are state taxes, not federal, that they weren’t paying.
That tolerance for corruption is a major problem in our immigration policy. These immigrants are inured to corruption because that’s the case in their home countries.
Religion plays a factor. It is why so many are Democrats. That and their is near zero Republican outreach to minorities.
Hasn’t anybody read the Clinton playbook on corruption?
You’ve got to earn it legally.
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